Auditory sensory memory and working memory processes in children with normal hearing and cochlear implants.

There can be wide variation in the level of oral/aural language ability that prelingually hearing-impaired children develop after cochlear implantation. Automatic perceptual processing mechanisms have come under increasing scrutiny in attempts to explain this variation. Using mismatch negativity methods, this study explored associations between auditory sensory memory mechanisms and verbal working memory function in children with cochlear implants and a group of hearing controls of similar age. Whilst clear relationships were observed in the hearing children between mismatch activation and working memory measures, this association appeared to be disrupted in the implant children. These findings would fit with the proposal that early auditory deprivation and a degraded auditory signal can cause changes in the processes underpinning the development of oral/aural language skills in prelingually hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants and thus alter their developmental trajectory

Acquired deafness: A multi-dimensional experience

The aim of this study was to investigate the subjective experience of acquired deafness using quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) methods. This paper presents findings from the questionnaire data. Eighty-seven people (of whom 38 had acquired a profound loss) participated in the study. The questionnaire contained items designed to examine both audiological and non-audiological aspects of deafened people's experiences. It also sought to measure the extent to which those aspects affect their quality of life. The questionnaire included three variables (i.e. reported frequency and impact of depression, and overall effect of deafness on one's life) as broad indicators of adjustment. Seventy-three respondents (including all but one of the profound group) completed the questionnaire. Factor analysis of the questionnaire data identified six major themes (with variance >10%) underlying the personal experience of acquired deafness. Three themes-communicative deprivation, restriction, and malinteraction by hearing people-dealt with observable aspects of respondents' experience. Multiple regression found that these factor themes associated with biomedical variables. The remaining three themes dealt with less tangible aspects of the deafness experience. These themes-feelings of distress in interaction, feelings of abandonment and benefit from positive experiences-did not associate with biomedical variables. Finally, multiple regression indicates that respondents' factor scores predict the impact of deafness at least as strongly as their audiological and social characteristics.